Girls just want to have fun

What’s cooking?

Any GRITS gathering is half shooting, half tailgate party. Once the last shot has been fired and the guns are safely put away, the women treat themselves to an elaborate outdoor dinner party that could put any SEC football tailgate to shame. Lynn Wells, with assistance from Allie Hawthorn, fires up a grill to prepare the evening’s fare at a recent gathering in York County.

Sticking to their guns

Shots ring out as the sound of laughter and the smell of gun smoke fill the air around the clay shooting fields of Blue Branch Farm near Sharon. Every few seconds a voice yells, “Pull!” which is soon followed by the loud sound of a shotgun blast.

With each thunderous boom, bright orange pieces of clay rain down, indicating a successful hit, and excited, celebratory cheers ensue. No matter how many times a shooter triumphantly turns a clay pigeon into dust, the cheers and encouragement never waver. Even when a shooter misses, you’ll hear nothing but encouragement coming from this crowd, because today isn’t about competition, it’s all about having a good time. And boy, does this group know how to have a good time.

They’re a unique bunch, known as Southern Carolina GRITS (short for Girls Really Into Shooting), an organization made up of women of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life who come together over their common love of shotgun sports.

GRITS is a warm and inviting group, making it easy to feel as though you belong right away, whether you can shoot well or not. They openly welcome participants of all skill levels and encourage women who have never shot before to come out and give it a try, says Southern Carolina GRITS member Libby Pretty.

“It’s just a great bunch of women who get together and love to do this,” says Pretty, who’s been attending GRITS events since the organization started. “We love you regardless of your level of shooting. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re having fun.”

Let’s get this party started

Once a month, these women from North and South Carolina get together to spend the day shooting clays on a local course like Rocky Creek Sporting Clays in Richburg or Hermitage Farm Shooting Sports in Camden. Each event follows the same basic concept. Simply put: Any GRITS gathering is half shooting, half tailgate party.

Every outing starts with a review of gun safety rules and instructions on how to properly navigate the shooting course. Throughout the day, shooters take turns breaking clays at different stations. Professional shooting instructors are on-site to help anyone who wants to improve her mechanics or work out a tricky shot. When there aren’t instructors around, seasoned shooters gladly take newbies under their wings and guide them through the day.

Once the last shot has been fired and the guns are safely put away, the women treat themselves to an elaborate outdoor dinner party that could put any SEC football tailgate to shame. Before the big day, at least several dozen enthusiastic emails fly back and forth among members to nail down the perfect menu, from gourmet appetizers to decadent desserts. One recent event featured bacon-wrapped quail (the quail bagged by one of the ladies on a recent hunt), prime cuts of filet mignon and blood orange brownies, all arranged on tables creatively adorned with an assortment of pheasant feathers and spent shotgun shells. Oh, and let’s not forget the most important part—the libations. There’s plenty of champagne and bourbon to go around.

After dinner, the group will spend hours chatting around a crackling campfire, with toasts to a successful day of shattering clays. It’s the interest in shotgun sports that initially draws members in, but it’s the close-knit bonds and lifelong friendships that are formed around this fire that keep them coming back.

Chief GRIT

The mastermind behind this dynamic group of shooters is Elizabeth Lanier Fennell, a professional shooting instructor based in Sharon, who got hooked on shotgun sports two decades ago when she tagged along with her then-husband to one of his shooting lessons.

Once Fennell was hooked, she looked for other women to shoot with while her kids were at school. Over time, she recruited a small group of friends committed to shooting together at least once a month, but they often encountered other women who were too intimidated to join the fun.

“There are women who are simply scared of shotguns, but really want to try anyway. There are women who get nervous shooting with men, often simply because they are scared they can’t hit anything when they try,” Fennell says. “I realized we needed to give women a safe and encouraging place to enter the sport.”

With that goal in mind, Fennell founded GRITS based on two simple rules: You have to be a girl, and score-keeping is not allowed.

Today, there are 14 GRITS chapters across the country, with two more launching in the next few months, and hundreds of active members, Fennell says. “We had lots of requests for GRITS groups in different areas of the country, because they witnessed us having so much fun everywhere we went. It has turned into something way bigger, faster than we could have imagined.”

“They become proficient, they have fun, and they realize they can do things they never thought they could,” she says. “To see these women feel empowered in a, ‘Hey, I can do this,’ way is just amazing.”

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Get More

Women interested in joining the Southern Carolina GRITS chapter can attend two events as a guest before paying the $50 annual fee to join. For more information, visit gritsgobang.org. To schedule a private shooting lesson with Elizabeth Lanier Fennell, visit fennellshootingschool.com. Lessons start at $100 an hour.